Just chase away the morning afternoon
by LadyKG
Summary: She woke to the smell of crinkled flower petals staled by the fresh morning air.


**Don't own naruto, don't own picture used.**

 **Alright, my lovely readers, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

She woke to the smell of crinkled flower petals staled by the fresh morning air.

Blonde strands of hair spread thick over impressed sheets mingling with the remaining strings of sunlight that only peak through the window onto the bed during the early hours. Lost amongst the blankets scattering the floor are her clothes and gear, thrown to the mats without a care the night before.

Her skin is sticky with saliva and her lips still slightly crusted from kissing the folds between her friend's legs. Or. She supposes they would be more after last night.

It had been rough and messy, unsure touches mixed sloppily with passion. But the scrape of nails against flesh and the bite of teeth sinking into her neck, thighs, shoulder felt like fire in her veins. Reminded her that Ino was _there_ and _safe._ Their sounds were loud without filter of their pleasure because encouragement to the other was needed after one too many time they questioned if it was okay.

It was an exploration. One well-earned after Ino sought death on her last mission - Sakura always questioned her insistence to take any mission no matter if it could bring her demise or not.

The blonde had come back with four broken ribs and a punctured left lung, two fractures in her right leg and a cracked skull. By all rights the blonde should be in the hospital for another month with any other healer taking over her case. But, despite Tsunade's insistence – her shishou saw through the air of nonchalant care Sakura held for her friend so easily it was painful – the pinket had brushed aside every other medic that tried to take over the surgery.

A month reduced to a week. One that Sakura spent taking the night shifts as punishment.

But it was worth it. Worth seeing her friend – who may be more – wake up after the surgery with a room full of flowers and chocolates. A sea of geraniums and peonies with dancing stems twisting around yarrows that burst in yellows and pinks.

Worth the slight stretch in her muscles and the bruising marks that decorate her pale skin. And the cool shift of air against skin finally not overheating with flickering touches that tease butterflies to life in her ribcage.

Lifting herself into a sitting position Sakura squints green orbs at the clock next to the bed, running a hand through hair just starting to fall on the side of greasy. Eyelids heavy she can see nothing but a blur of ticking hands that roughly estimate to ten past seven.

An arm snakes around her waist then, pulling harshly on her stomach till she flops back with a yelp of surprise.

"It's too early, Forehead, go back to sleep," the words are muffled into a pillow, but Sakura hears them all the same.

"It's already past seven, Pig," she snorts back, but a yawn breaks out of her, loudly demanding a few hours more of sleep.

"We're on leave, it's not like we have anything to do."

"Training." And that is normally enough to get the girl up, but Sakura feels vindictive enough about the ache in her neck from where the blonde sunk her teeth to draw blood that a pillow finds its way into the Yamanaka's face.

The white fluff of a head rest fell away from her maybe-more-than-friend to reveal shocked light blue eyes, "You didn't just…" Sakura offers a too-innocent smile, "You are going down, Forehead Girl!"

With that a mass of white nicks the side of her cheek as the pinket dodges to the left, tumbling off the bed and onto the floor with a rolling bounce to her feet. "Missed me, Ino-pig."

A furious war-cry echoes in the room before another pillow is tossed at her head, to which she ducks and watches with interest as it sails out the open window and into the street below. A bellowing yell of surprise and thump of a body hitting the ground has Sakura swiftly shutting the glass plane and drawing the curtains – Ino has blackout of course, because missions and interrogations run odd hours. But so does most shinobi work.

She turns back around to face Ino with a raised eyebrow, "Breakfast?"

The blonde nods, extracting herself from the bed and scooping up two robs from her closet. Tossing one to Sakura the interrogation expert says simply, "Hope you like black coffee."

Sakura huffs, "I though you stopped dieting when you made chunin."

"I did," Ino looks back at her and rolls her eyes, "I've been gone all week, Forehead. No time to shop."

"Right," she says, trying not to think on how that week was spent in a hospital bed, form prone and near lifeless. The air between them settles on awkward after a mere two breathes of silence. Fidgeting with her fingers Sakura thinks absently that it would have been better if she had just left the night before.

A mug of steaming coffee stabbed down onto the counter in front of the pinket, startling her from her thoughts, "What's with that face, Forehead?"

"What face?" Sakura waves away.

"We've known each other since we were kids," Ino points out with a small huffing frown, "I know when something's on your mind. Now spill."

Sakura bites her lips and looks down, unsure how to go about bringing up the topic. "What are we, now?"

Ino tilts her head, in that cute way Sakura always has to be mindful of, "What do you mean?"

"Well… just, after last night…" she tries to piece together her thoughts into a sentence but the words come out jumbled.

"Oh," the Yamanaka's voice sounded slightly small and Sakura's heart sank to rest somewhere in her stomach. "Huh, I didn't really think about what this would make us. But I guess if you really want to label it… girlfriends."

Her heart skipped a beat, hope blooming in her chest and sending vines to anchor in her lungs. "As in… dating?"

"Well yeah, what else would I mean?"

"It's just that… I didn't think you liked me in that way."

"I thought my feelings were pretty obvious," Ino tells her, blinking in wide-eyed confusion. "I've liked you since the end of the war… I thought you knew."

"I…" she pushed her tongue to articulate something, _anything_ , but the sounds all died before they could even begin to form.

Ino snorts, "Figures. You may be smart, Forehead, but you clearly need help taking a hint."

The pinket sputtered, indignation flaring in her hot and fast, "I can so take a hint!"

"Really," Ino countered, "then why didn't you notice any of the times I was flirting with you?"

"You're just a bad flirt!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are-" she was cut off with a mouth over hers, muffling the rest of her sentence and leaving a tingle running down her spine.

"The neighbors will complain about the noise," Ino told her with a sniff, but her eyes gleamed at the thought she won their childish spat.

"They didn't complain last night," the pinket shot back easily, causing her frie- _girlfriend_ to blush profusely.

"You were just as bad," the blonde mumbled out with a pout.

Sakura snickered, downing her cup of coffee in one large gulp – really, it burned, but she went through twenty of these when working her shift at the hospital. "Shower, then I'll treat you to breakfast," Sakura told the Yamanaka, because as good as coffee actually is, it isn't a proper start to the day and if they're going to train then having something nutritious is a must.

Ino's eyes sparkled then, "Care to join me?"

She hummed, "I don't know, the neighbors might com-" she cut off with a yelp when her robe was grabbed and she was tugged along with her blonde fri- _girlfriend_ into the bathroom.

By the time they actually made it out to the training field it was well past noon.


End file.
